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Archive:Mahaka Ashmane
A tauren rounding the last years of life, Mahaka is a dedicated Shadowhoof. She is close to 100 years old, but no one knows for certain. She has lived and served many chieftains in her lifetime, and has witnessed little change. However, the poor female struggles to understand as her world in the past twenty years has shifted more times then in her entire life. With the coming of the horde and shift in Shadowhoof policy, she is the least likely of any in the tribe to get along with the Horde. Background Born into a small bloodline within the shadowhoof, named the Ashmane, Mahaka went through the same rites as all the other children. She was presented the spear of her father and played with the point as if it were a toy. She grew up, in her first years, a normal Shu'halo with normal likes and dislikes. Imagination After Mahaka's tenth birthday, her age mates soon noticed a change in their friend. She grew quiet and much more withdrawn; never really enjoying the times she would be out training or hunting with friends. Unsure why there daughter fell into such a state, her parents doubled their efforts to push her into becoming a strong hunter. Slowly, Mahaka came out of her shell to once again enjoy playing with the other children and her family. However, at night, her parents would catch her in her tent talking to a 'friend' who as not there. Not wanting to push they daughter, they simply let this strange quark be and forgot about such nonsence. They simply believed it to be a childs imagination at work. Growing up, and up, and up After Mahaka completed her rites to join the hunts, she became a skilled hand-to-hand combatiant. Not so wonderful with the bow, she found comfort in the weight of the one-handed mace. She soon came to train under an old combat shaman named Sleepingthunder. It was an old rite name given to him for his incredible skills and ability to sleep for 16 hours a day. Mahaka quickly found another reason for his name, his snoring. Unable to sleep most nights, the young shaman trained her skills till exhaustion hit. Her muscles grew in size and over time her appetite scaled with her growth. It wasn’t until after she was still growing past her teens, that anyone ever took notice. By the time they did, however, she had already scaled the normal 8 feet and surpassed it. Rounding off at a solid ten feet and two inches, Mahaka’s condition was simply written off as a fluke. Explain away as her mixed heritage and dormant Grimtotem blood finally surfacing in the Ashmane bloodline, Mahaka continued her training uninterrupted. Visions Shortly after her rites into womanhood and the main tribe, Mahaka started to receive strange visions and dreams. She would wake up often in the night in a panic, her fur matted with sweat. Others quickly noticed her fur and markings were slowly beginning to fade over time as she tossed in her dreams and walked the day as a ghost. Some began to see her going mad, as it were, talking to persons not there and calling people by their ancestor’s names. Plagued by dreams and nightmares, Mahaka began leaving her tents at night to visit the resident Shaman. Accepting the female under his guidance, the shaman taught Mahaka to feel the spirit realms. Under his guidance, the female did learn, but of the desperate needs the ancestors harbored to server their tribe even in death. She heard voices of thousands of warriors who echoed their causes to her, and she saw hundreds of eyes watching her in hopes of using her as a tool to further goals. Each time she returned from a spiritual journey her body would be wracked by seizures for a short time after as she fought off the entities trying to claim her. During one especially tough session, her great great-grandfather, a mighty Ashmane who carried the mark of a primal in his former life, came to her. He told her of the dangers of fleeing her calling and the madness. He also told her of the powers she could harness, yet explained of how it would slowly kill her over time. He comforted her as she cried for her own selfish wants, and allowed her to tell him all that troubled her. She slept for a week before coming back to the world of the living where she told the old Shaman of her ancestor. It was not long after, that Mahaka was sent to train under the Shadowhoof Spiritwalkers on the great Colossus in Feralas. There she learned the ways of channeling the ancestors into her body and powerful rites known only to the eldest of members. The Destruction of the Elders During Mahaka's training, she took the position of taking care of the elders. To safe guard the elders from the harsh life in Feralas, the Shadwohoof help them to the top of the Colossus. Here younger members of the tribe would make pilgramages to the top and speak to those of wisdom. Few shaman were given the right to watch over the elders, should something happen. Daily life was calm for Mahaka. The elders were still fairly self sufficient and did not require much more then a calm ear to listen and a warm blanket. Food was prepared from the many donations and offerings brought each day and tents were prepared from the skins provided by the main familes of the elders. However, the elders were the first target after the inclusion of the Shu'halo into the horde. In one single battle, many of the elders were lost. During a rutine flight over Feralas, an Alliance group decended on the elder's camp. The recent troubles within the horde fresh in the minds of many Allaince people, they slaughtered all they found. It was Mahaka's duty, as one of the few shaman entrusted with the well-being of the elders, to send them down safely to escape. Unfortunately, as the sudden attack raged forward she was only able to save a small handful before being slashed and shoved off the edge of the plateau. Thankfully she was able to call upon the elements quick enough to prevent her body from being crushed by the fall, but she retains a broken horn and a displaced hip to always remind her of that day. Nordak, the White Receiving the blessing of the council and elders, she began to look for a student to whom she could teach the art. As she found one in Nordak the white, she quickly began to train him in the arts of the shaman It was very soon that she discovered his talent for the elements and his link with the ancestors. She had found her successor. However, it was only a matter of time before the orcs called in favors of war. Taking the youngest of the Shadowhoof males to battle, they trained them in the art of war and battle. Mahaka fought hard to keep Nordak from going, but the call was strong and the Shadowhoof had to honor their promise to help the Horde. The bull left Mahaka with a promise to return once the fighting was over. Nordak left, but failed in his promise to return alive. Never forgiving the orcs or the Horde, she curses their very name and holds untold amounts of hatred towards the orcs. It is now ten years later, and she still has not found another as skilled as Nordak. For her failure, the spirits have cursed her to live on until another can learn of the Shadowhoof ancestors. For if she were to die now, all the ancestors would forever be lost to the Shadowhoof. She grows wary and tired of her existence, but her oath to the ancestors keeps her forever alert to her duty. Aging Over the years, Mahaka has come to accept and use her skills in many ways. She was given the title as tribal Spiritwalker after her formal training some thirty years before the orcs. She has watched the orc invasion on Kalimdor, and stood by as her leaders made various decisions on their worth and gain as an ally. Her unwavering loyalties had her stand by her people through trials and the upheaval of Chiefs. She has served alongside three of the Shadowhoof Chieftains, including Kurshaw Shadowhoof. As age takes her, the spirits are able to take her mind from her people even during times when she is not aware. It is a signal to her coming madness and the decline of her powers to control the spirits. Description Mahaka stands tall at ten feet and two inches and her body mass easily creeps closer to a bulls weight of 800 pounds. Large musclulature covers her body and fur is a duel semi-long coat which is water resistant, an adaptation of her feralian bloodline. The pelt coloration is faded almost to white, however there are remnants of light brown to indicate her provious coloration. She sports a broken horn from the tragety that befell the elders which she ties two small medalions to with the symbols of earth and fire. Her eyes are a calm smokey grey which recently have been plagued by cataracts. Involvement Mahaka is the head Shaman and Spiritwalker of the Shadowhoof. Her loyalty is only to her tribe and their kin, and she holds a special hatred for the Horde She is currently an Enchancement Shaman, though her leveling has slowed to a stop. Quotes "The Horde fester upon these lands and distort the Shadowhoof legacy into their lose understanding of the other tribes." "Why should I follow such creatures to battle? They forget respect and forget that they trample on our ancestors graves..." "I am the last. I am a rusted artifact of a dieing culture. No one will save us now." Trivia * Mahaka was the players first shaman to level past 20. * She has problems keeping names in the tribe straight, so she simply points and calls them all Shadowhoof. * This is the players first attempt at a slightly maddened elder. See also * The Shadowhoof Tribe * Kurshaw Shadowhoof * Checotan Duskpelt * Khurn Stormsinger External links * The Shadowhoof Website * The Shadowhoof Youtube * The Shadowhoof Group on WRA.net Category:Archived Characters